Work experience: I doubt I'm going to find any!

[chickenlittle]

I'm good too, thanks.

There are quite a few hospitals in Manchester and they have very clearly stated that they must provide places to students first and then everyone else, but usually there is nothing left.

I will be doing event first aid with BRC, just waiting for training dates to come up. As of now, they don't have anything until July for Greater Manchester. I have put my name down for it, so it is just matter of waiting it out.

I have looked into shadowing doctors in Ghana, but it is around £1500 plus flights and visa? I admit I have not shopped around for a better deal. How did you go about arranging it? I was born in India, so I'm half-tempted to go 'back home' and get some work experience.

Hey Chicken.

I'm well thanks, how are you?

I had trouble getting shadowing work because I was quite a ways from the nearest big hospital and there's a massive demand for student volunteer posts around Bristol. I'm quite involved in a lot community stuff in the town where I live. Shadowing GPs or staff in the local community hospital was a no-no because I knew half the people in there and it presented confidentiality issues. When I explained that in my interview it seemed to go down well - basically it showed I had tried.

I did two weeks of shadowing doctors in Ghana, which was brilliant fun, and I was able to spin that in the interview too. It was a bit pricey but no-where near as expensive as you'd think. If you want any information on this then let me know.

It sucks that you don't have a car, but Red Cross stuff is really good. I went from first aider to ambulance technician with the BRC. Whenever I worked the big events they often had an onsite doctor or nurse, so I pestered the hell out of them whenever I could. Had some great chats with doctors who were otherwise bored. Again, it was all stuff I talked about in my interview. Have you thought about doing event first aid with BRC?

[kiaravin1]

Really doesnt matter what you have done, but you have to be able to explain what you have learnt from it. Someone on my course had never stepped foot in a hospital before the start of the GEM course. They volunteered as a first aider for St Johns ambulance for ~an hour a week over 2 years. BUT, she was able to make it relevant, explain what she had learnt, and showed that she had the passion and commitment to study medicine.

Shadowing is exciting, and everyone tries to do it, but it is not really a beneficial "work experience" - mainly shows you have a medical family!

Try and organise some volunteering at your local hospital, hospice, or care home. Even if it is just sitting a talking to patients, or making them tea. This would show you have effective communication and are willing to do the basics well. Will give you insight into what members of the healthcare team do, and how they work together, and then you can explain why you want to be a doctor as opposed to something else. Or, if you have an elderly neighbour who could do with someone fetching the milk for her and someone to talk to, then that is just as acceptable. Showing that you have done this over a long period of time is much more beneficial to you and proves your commitment to Medicine very well.

[Martigan]

Chickenlittle

Kiaravin1 is bang-on with his advice. Shadowing is far less valuable that a lot of people think. Because it rarely has any length of depth, there is a limit to what to gain, plus its more passive as you are mainly observing, rather that doing a care related job.

Personally, to me, it is best used as a contrast to some other long-term work experience (where you actually work, not watch)

I initially worked for a hospital radio. Sounds irrelevant... However I spent several hours a shift going from ward to ward, talking to patients, officially to get music requests and set up people sets. Some are bored, some are scared, some are excited about the possibility of resolving a troubling issue. But they all had a story! - I learnt loads.

From that I got my ward work, and from that I did spend sometime, supporting some junior Dr's as I became a "go to guy", as I got to know the systems and processes and which ward sisters had scarce but useful equipment stashed away...

[SeanXRT]

I recently completed two weeks work experience in two different hospitals in Liverpool, which was very easy to arrange so if you are willing to commute the opportunity is there.

[sam hitori]

I tried this strategy and it seemed to work nicely.
Free sample letter is nicely tuned too.

Good luck!

[Medic_88]

No luck so far with any hospice around here, however, I am trying to sort something out with a local nursing home, but it's not a care role, so I am worried I won't be getting enough patient contact.

Hi chickenlittle, don't worry about not having a defined role as a volunteer. When I was volunteering at the nursing home, I was the only one who really had the time to sit down and talk at length with the residents, as everyone else was so stretched it was a race against time to get everyone out of bed, washed, dressed and ready for breakfast, before getting those who wanted to back to bed, and repeating it all every mealtime (not washing obv, but you get what I mean!)
The residents liked me being there to talk to, and the staff were happy I was there because they didn't feel mean when they had to leave a resident to tend to someone else.
I think this was the best time to find out their real feelings about living in nursing home and what they miss but also the security offered by the nursing home.
I also spoke to the staff a lot during their breaks to see what its like in their position, but also the management who would accept the residents, including going to the hospital to talk to a patient being discharged to see if the nursing home were able to suitably care for the patient.
It was all really enlightening and let me talk at length at the interviews about what i'd done and seen.

Applying for a voluntary position at QMC in Nottingham was ridiculous. 2 of us on our course applied at the same time and it took 8 months to hear anything positive back (after a lot of prompting). Even then they wanted me to go on a fire/safety day (at a different hospital?) which only happened every 2 months. I had to be introduced to the ward, which would be another 2 weeks away. By the time the fire/safety day had come round, I was in the middle of dissertation writing and had given up all hope!